10. O you who believe, shall I show you a trade that will save you from a painful punishment?

Allah (swt) begins this ayah by addressing the believers with a question. As we mentioned, when Allah (swt) begins an ayah by calling to the believers we have to pay extremely close attention and think that this ayah is being directed specifically to us. The question that Allah (swt) asks us is if He (swt) should show us a trade that will save us from a painful punishment. “Trade” here refers to an exchange, like we exchange money for merchandise when we buy something. The words “painful punishment” in this ayah refers to the hellfire. When Allah (swt) refers to a punishment as “painful” we know it is the worst kind of pain. Far worse than anything we can even possibly imagine. Even in the life of this world there is no pain like the pain of burning, now can you imagine a fire that is seventy times as intense as the fire of this world and one that will consume you entire body. Just thinking about it should send shivers down your spine.

Some foolish and ignorant people may ask the question of why should we need to be saved from the Fire in the first place? The truth that these people do not realize is that there are very few people in humanity who are not deserving of the Fire. For certain the prophets do not deserve the Fire because they are the closest to Allah (swt) and they spend their entire lives either in worship and devotion to Allah (swt) or calling others to the worship of Allah (swt). The closest to the prophets are those, who although they do not receive revelation from Allah (swt), are similar to the prophets in that they devote their lives to the worship and servitude of Allah (swt). They fulfill the purpose for which Allah (swt) created them. We have to always remember that Allah (swt) created us and put us on this earth for a reason. We are not here simply to enjoy ourselves or simply to relax, nor are we here to be disobedient to Allah (swt). Allah (swt) created us only so that we can serve and worship Him (swt). The vast majority of humanity has failed in that duty. They have chosen a life of serving their desires instead of serving their Creator. Is there anything less than the Fire that they deserve for such ingratitude to the One Who brought them into existence and the One Who maintains that existence for every moment of their life? So much has Allah (swt) given the human being, and so little have we done to show gratitude to Him (swt).

How then could we expected to be shown mercy in the Hereafter when we are guilty of such ingratitude? We also have to remember that we are the complete property of Allah (swt) to do with as He (swt) pleases. Allah (swt) could throw all of humanity in the Fire for no reason and that would not be injustice for Him (swt) because He (swt) created us and we are His (swt)’s property. But Allah (swt) has not done that, rather He (swt) has turned to His creation in Mercy. In this ayah Allah (swt) tells us of a trade that we can make with Him (swt) that can save us from the punishment that has become due on us. Who among us would not take this trade? Who among us would not want to be saved from that horrible punishment? We would give so much in this world to ensure that our family and our selves are safe from any distress and suffering in the life of the world. To save yourself from pain and hardship you would do so much and you would spend so much. To cure a disease that is causing you pain you would spend all of your wealth. Despite this you know that there is no pain and suffering in the life of this world when compared to the punishment in the Hereafter. We know the hadith where the Prophet (saw) has told us about the time when the evil and disbelieving people will be faced with the punishment of the hellfire. At that moment, they would be willing to sacrifice this whole world and everything in it to be saved from that punishment. Just imagine, if you owned everything in this world, you would still be willing to give all of that up to escape from the punishment of the hellfire. This is because you will realize how horrible and how painful that punishment is. However in this ayah Allah (swt) is giving us a chance to be saved from the Fire and He (swt) is not asking for us to give the world and everything in it. Allah (swt) is telling us here in the Quran what we have to give Him (swt) in exchange for being saved from that awful punishment. So listen carefully to what Allah (swt) is tells us in the next ayah as to how we can be saved from that punishment.

11. That you believe in Allah and His Messenger, and you strive in path of Allah with your wealth and your lives, that is much better for you, if you but knew.

In the previous ayah Allah (swt) asked the believers if they would like to be shown a trade that would save from the punishment of the Fire. In other words, Allah (swt) will save us from the Fire and in return we have to do something for Him (swt). In this ayah Allah (swt) tells us what we need to do. Once again it is very important that we pay close attention and think deeply about how we can do what Allah (swt) tells us to do so that we can live up to our part of the bargain.

The first part of this trade is that we believe in Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw). This belief is the belief with the firm conviction after pondering and reflecting on the signs that Allah (swt) has given us both in the world around us and in the Quran. We have to believe that Allah (swt) is One and Only and we have to believe in all of the perfect attributes of Allah (swt) such as Him (swt) being the All Knowing, All Seeing and the One Who has power over all things. We also have to believe that the Prophet (saw) is the Messenger of Allah (swt). The final Messenger of Allah (swt) that has been sent for all mankind. The best of the creation of Allah (swt). We also have to love the Prophet (saw) and part of the perfection of our belief is that we love the Prophet (saw) more than anyone else, including our families and ourselves. The only One Whom we should love more than the Prophet (saw) is Allah (swt), So the first component of the trade that we make with Allah (swt) is that we believe in Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw) in the correct way. This means we have to the correct and firm in belief in Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw).If we cannot fulfill this first part of the bargain, then nothing else that comes after should matter. May Allah (swt) allow us to achieve that!

The second component of the trade that we make with Allah (swt) is to strive and struggle hard in path of Allah (swt) with our wealth and our lives. The word jihad in this ayah means to strive and struggle hard. The word jihad here includes the material struggle with arms but it is not restricted to it, rather it refers to any kind of struggle or striving that you do for the cause of Allah (swt) and hoping to achieve the pleasure of Allah (swt). The cause of Allah (swt) is the effort to establish the Law of Allah (swt) in the land and to spread the Message of Allah (swt) to mankind. This is the goal for which we have to strive and struggle hard in the life of this world. We must be wiling to sacrifice our wealth and our lives in this cause. There should be nothing that we should be hesitant to give up. This means that we must give up our money and our time. This dawah cannot be something that we do in our part time and something that we do not spend for. Rather we should always be involved in this work, striving and struggling hard, with all of the resources that Allah (swt) has given us. May Allah (swt) enable us to do that! We never said it would be easy, but we have been created and placed on this earth for a great purpose. Allah (swt) has placed in the human being so much potential both physically and mentally that he needs to utilize to establish justice and righteousness in the land. We do not exist to simply eat, have intercourse, defecate and die. Is that the life that you want? If you choose that life, then what difference is there between you and the animal? Rather the life that all Muslims should want is the life of jihad. Once the State has been established, this is the life of the soldier and before the State it is the one struggles to carry this idea to the Ummah so that they would return to Islam once again. May Allah (swt) allow Muslims everywhere make the correct decision on how they should live their lives!

In the final portion of this ayah, Allah (swt) tells us that this is better for us if only we know. We see in the reality of the world today that most people have not made this trade with Allah (swt). On the contrary, what we see is that most people purchase a small time in this world of serving their desires with their fate in the Hereafter. This is only because the people simply do not know. They do not comprehend the reality of the universe. They do not see how the life of this world is only a short and fleeting existence. A place of test and trial. It is only in the life after this where we can truly achieve victory or suffer defeat. Because most people do not know about this,they are unwilling to make this trade with Allah (swt). They do not want to make this trade despite the fact that Allah (swt) clearly says in this ayah that this trade is what is better. First of all, we should love to worship and serve Allah (swt) because He (swt) is Our Creator and our Sustainer. He (swt) is also the One Who has given us every good thing that we have in our life. Do not think that anything that you have in the life of this world is something that you have because you deserve it. Every single blessing that you have in the life of this world, every single joy that you have is only a gift from Allah (swt) to you for which you have done nothing to deserve. So to a live a life of worship and servitude to Allah (swt) should be something that you love to do, because He (swt) has given you everything that you have. But look here at the Mercy of Allah (swt), He (swt) is offering you the greatest of rewards if you dedicate your life to serving and worshipping Him (swt). Even though the worship and servitude to Allah (swt) should be something that is beloved to you, Allah (swt) is still offering you a great reward if you do it.

The first part of this reward is that you will be saved from this terrible and excruciating punishment that the rest of humanity is bound for. You cannot even begin to how blessed and fortunate that you would be if Allah (swt) prevented that fire from touching your skin. We know from the hadith of the Prophet (saw) that if the person who lived the most comfortable and pleasant life in this world would be dipped for just one moment in the hellfire, he would say that he has never known any good for his whole life. One of the lessons that we can take from this hadith is that the pain of just one moment in the fire would have a greater affect on a person than a lifetime of pleasure and comfort in this world. He felt so much pain while he was in that fire that it made him forget all of the good things that he enjoyed in the life of this world. So just to be saved from that Fire should make all of our efforts and sacrifices in the life of this world worth it.

But does the Mercy of Allah (swt) end there? What about all of the sins that we have committed? What can we do with all of the acts of disobedience that we have committed? In the next ayah Allah (swt) tells us what will happen to our sins.

12. He will forgive for you your sins and He will admit you into gardens under which rivers flow, and maskeena tayyibthan in gardens of eternity, that is the greatest achievement.

In the previous ayah Allah (swt) told us about a trade that we can make with Him (swt). For our part we would believe in Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw) with the correct and firm belief, and we would struggle and strive to establish the Law of Allah (swt) in the land and to spread this Message to mankind. In exchange for this, Allah (swt) promised us that He (swt) would save us from the painful and terrible punishment of the Fire. But is that the end of what Allah (swt) would do for us in this trade? What about all of the sins and acts of disobedience that we committed? If we are not going to the Fire after we die then where would we go?

The first thing that Allah (swt) tells us in this ayah is that He (swt) will forgive for us our sins. Notice the words la kom, this means that the act of forgiveness is something that Allah (swt) is doing for us. The pardoning of our sins is a great favor and blessing that Allah (swt) is bestowing on us. We committed our sins knowing that these actions were forbidden in the Law of Allah (swt). We did these evil actions knowing that they would earn the displeasure of Allah (swt). No one forced us to do these sins, rather we did them of our own free will. So our sins are like a debt that we are carrying on our neck. Since we earned them through our evil actions, there is nothing that we can do to get rid off them. They are stuck on us like chains. The Only One Who can remove our sins from us is Allah (swt), and that is what He (swt) promises He (swt) will do if we only live up to our end of this trade.

There are at least two lessons that we can take even from just this first portion of the ayah. See once again how much meaning that Allah (swt) has put into so few words. The first lesson is that we must never despair of our sins. Allah (swt) has clearly told us in this ayah that He (swt) will forgive our sins. He (swt) is not saying in this ayah that He (swt) will only forgive some of our sins, but He (swt) is saying that He (swt) will forgive our sins, that means all of them. We know from other ayahs of the Quran, and the hadith as well that there is no limit to the amount of sins that Allah (swt) can forgive. For example there is last hadith in Imam Nawawi’s collection of forty hadith that we should all know which is a hadith qudsi where Allah (swt) has told us

“O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive what you have you have done and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds in the sky and were you to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness as great it is”.

This ayah and this hadith clearly show us that Allah (swt) loves to forgive sins. As long you believe only in Allah (swt) and you make a sincere effort to serve and worship Him (swt). So no matter how much evil you may have done in your life, you must always have a hope that Allah (swt) will forgive you your sins. The scholars have even said that to simply think that Allah (swt) will never forgive you is a greater evil than whatever sin you may have committed. At the same time you must never let Shaitan trick you into thinking that since Allah (swt) forgives all sins, you should simply do all the evil that you want and ask forgiveness later on. None of us know when our death will come. As Abdullah ibn Umar (ra) said we should live every morning like we will not be alive in the evening and we should live every evening like we would not be alive in the morning. So we must always have the hope that Allah (swt) will forgive us our sins and at the same time we must have the fear that death can come at any moment.

As ibn al-Qayyim said, we must have two wings. One wing of hope that Allah (swt) will forgive our sins and one wing of fear that we may die before we can ask Allah (swt) for forgiveness and be righteous. Only when these two wings are balanced can the bird fly. So whenever Shaitan tells us that we have committed so many sins that Allah (swt) will never forgive us, we must remind ourselves that Allah (swt) is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful. And whenever Shaitan comes to tempt us with a sin, we must ask ourselves what would happen if we were to die while we are committing that sin.

The other lesson that we can take from this first portion of the ayah is that Allah (swt) is the Only One Who can forgive sins. We should not ask for forgiveness from anyone except Allah (swt). We should not care what anyone thinks of us, we should only worry about if Allah (swt) is pleased with us or not. Unfortunately many Muslims today ask other people to ask Allah (swt) to forgive them instead of asking Allah (swt) to forgive them directly. They think that since they have committed so many sins, they are not worthy to ask Allah (swt) directly. But these people do not realize that by placing these intermediaries between them and Allah (swt), they are in fact beginning to commit shirk. So we have to realize that Allah (swt) is the Only One Who can forgive sins and we should not ask of anyone but Him (swt). If you are ashamed to ask Allah (swt) directly because of the sins that you are committing then stop doing those sins. Do not go to some person who you think is righteous or the grave of some person who may have been righteous and ask of them. Allah (swt) is closer to you than your jugular vein, so why should you ask of anyone except Him (swt)? If He (swt) chooses He (swt) will forgive you no matter how many sins that you may have done, and if you are sincere in your prayer to Him (swt) He (swt) may even give you the power and the ability to stop doing whatever evil that you are doing. We know the hadith where the Prophet (saw) has told us that he (saw) asks Allah for forgiveness more than seventy times a day. If the beloved of Allah (saw) and the one who is protected from sin (saw) asks Allah (swt) for forgiveness this many times, then how many times should we ask of Him (swt)? We ask Allah (swt) to forgive our sins and the sins of all our Muslim brothers and sisters who humbly and sincerely submit to Him (swt).

Now that our sins have been forgiven where should our destination in the Hereafter be? Allah (swt) then tells us in this ayah that He (swt) will admit us into gardens under which rivers flow. Regarding these gardens Allah (swt) has told us in a hadith qudsi “I have prepared for My righteous slaves things which have never been seen by any eye, nor heard by any ear, nor imagined by any human being”. The Quran has given us descriptions that have a glimpse of what the gardens of Allah (swt) will be like, but no matter how much we read about their grace, well being and abundance, we cannot imagine how wonderful and marvelous it is. As part of our submission and humility before Allah (swt) we have to believe that the gardens will be places of pleasure and joy more than we can possibly imagine. In the life of this world we have had small glimpses of what happiness and contentment feels like. This is just a taste of what Allah (swt) has kept reserved for us in the gardens. We know that one of the names of Allah (swt) is Ar-Raheem which means “the Most Merciful”. This is a special Mercy that Allah (swt) has kept for the believers in the Hereafter. The manifestation of this Mercy of Allah (swt) are the gardens. Just imagine that Allah (swt) Who has so much Power, how much pleasure and joy, could He (swt) give to those of His righteous servants that He (swt) chooses and favors. If Allah (swt) is pleased with you, just imagine how pleased Allah (swt) can make you. We ask Allah (swt) to include us in that company of His chosen servants for whom this unimaginable reward He (swt) has given. So we see in this ayah that Allah (swt) tells us that if we do our part in this trade that He (swt) will admit us into the gardens. Notice here that Allah (swt) is the One Who will admit you into these gardens. Even if you live up to your end of this bargain and believe in Allah (swt) and the Prophet (saw) with the correct belief and struggle and strive hard in the way of Allah (swt), you must never think that your deeds are enough to allow you enter these gardens. These gardens are so magnificent and wonderful that no matter how strong your belief was and no matter how hard you struggled you are not even worthy to be in them for one second. Rather it is Allah (swt), out of His Mercy and Love, that will admit you into these gardens. We know that for those who do evil Allah (swt) will punish them for the evil that they have done, but for those who do good Allah (swt) will reward them much more than they deserve. Such is the Mercy of Allah (swt)!

Allah (swt) describes the gardens as having rivers flowing underneath. The scholars have said that there are rivers of wine, rivers of milk, and rivers of honey. They will give you the most sweetest and most delicious of drinks. Some scholars have said that the rivers flow through the gardens and other scholars have taken the literal meaning and said that the rivers flow underneath the gardens. But for us it is not so important exactly where the rivers are. We should simply take the general meaning of this ayah and know that in these gardens we will be given these rivers to drink from, to bathe in and to enjoy. That fact should motivate us to work hard to attain these rivers, instead of worrying about exactly where in the garden they will. Insha Allah, wherever in the garden they are, they will be there for us to enjoy and partake in. We ask Allah (swt) to grant us these rivers of His (swt)’s gardens.

Then Allah (swt) says that He (swt) will grant them Masakeena Tayyabathin. The word Masakeen means “homes” or “dwellings”. It is the place where you stay and rest, and it meaning comes from the Sikeena which means tranquility and calmness. Tayyabathin means pure and clean and it also means what is good and pleasing. So in the gardens those who believe in Allah (swt) and the Prophet (saw) and strive hard in the life of this world will be given homes that are pure and clean as well as good and pleasant to be in. The Prophet (saw) has told us that the dwelling in the garden will be like a hollow pearl which is sixty miles high and in every corner of the dwelling the believer will have a family that no one else can see. This is the reward that Allah (swt) gives for their striving in the life of this world. We know from the Seerah that when the Prophet (saw) first received this revelation from Allah (swt), he (saw) told Khadija (ra) that from this day onwards there would be no more rest. So just like the Prophet (saw) the true believer and dawah carrier is the one who struggles and strives hard in the life of this world in the cause of Allah (swt). He works relentlessly in his worship and servitude of Allah (swt), and does not allow himself to relax. In reward for his hard work, Allah (swt) will reward him in the garden with homes where he can dwell in forever. They will be places of peace and tranquility. He will be told that you can rest and relax therein forever and you never have to work hard or struggle anymore. We ask Allah (swt) to grant us these dwellings where we can rest and where we can find peace and tranquility.

Then Allah (swt) says “in gardens of eternity”. The word ‘adn in this ayah could mean “eternity” or it could be referring to the name of one of the gardens. In either case both meanings fit in the context of this ayah. There is a hadith where the Prophet (saw) has told us that there are eight gardens and one of the gardens will be called ‘adn. The gardens will also be places where we will stay in forever. Every pleasure or joy that we have in the life of this world will surely come to an end. But in the gardens of Allah (swt), one of the many pleasures that we will have is the knowledge that all that we have will not end and will continue to remain forever. Can you imagine a world without time? That is how the gardens of Allah (swt) will be. We ask Allah (swt) to grant us that!

In the final portion of this ayah Allah (swt) tells us that this is greatest achievement. Everyone does the actions that they do so that they can achieve some goal. For some people their goal is money, for some people their goal is praise and recognition for some people their goal is the satisfaction of their lusts and desires. In this ayah Allah (swt) tells us what is the real achievement that we should be seeking to achieve. The real achievement is to be saved from the fire, to be forgiven our sins and to be admitted into the gardens. That is the grandest of achievements and the greatest of victories. May Allah (swt) allow us to attain that!

Hari ini adalah hari yang agak sibuk di surgery (bukan OT,surgery=clinic=small room for consultation). Usually it would be really quite on Tuesday but today is exceptional, so many people get affected by the freezing weather I guess. I saw aplenty of good cases today~family conflict, massive ovarian cyst, varicose veins, thyrotoxicosis, tons of respiratory illness, psych problem, meibomian cyst (fancy name for 'ketumbit'), and list goes on. I know, I know it's not as interesting as the case u might come across in the hospital. But still, common thing are still common, and u must know them by heart. It's funny how the medical staffs use the word 'interesting' for severe/rare disease. The more severe it is, the more interesting it would be.